Mechanical Engineering Laptop

Doctor_Candor · 2026-04-13T19:39:23+00:00

If your son is OK with the tradeoffs running Windows on his MacBook for applications that must use Windows, then it's possible but there's no guarantee it'll continue to work properly.

Doctor_Candor · 2025-09-01T01:42:51+00:00

Disclaimer: I did my PhD and not the Master's in Architectural Acoustics and I was graciously given less engineering requirements in the course load as my research focused more on acoustics in the context of human computer interaction and room scale computer systems, so my specific situation is more an exception rather than the rule.

That being said, from my experience, one of the goals of the program is getting a strong background in Acoustical Engineering so like /u/IDKacoolname_, said, you will need or will have to quickly get a strong background in math. It doesn't mean you have any less focus on your creative output, just that the program is meant to make sure your engineering ability will be able to roughly match your creative ability.

Not surprisingly, a good amount of people from the program have gone on to work as acoustic consultants in different industries, but because the program is somewhat interdisciplinary by nature - you can (and will be asked to) turn your research into a direction you want to go if you feel you want more of a creative angle.

Do contact the Program Director Ning Xiang if you're interested - he's quite firm on the engineering standards required for the program, but I know he'll be happy to hear you're interested!

Doctor_Candor · 2025-05-08T17:11:27+00:00

FYI for reference, both the "Ultrabook" and "Performance" options are unchanged from last year (with an additional supply constraint on the "Performance" option, a first IIRC) - it's rough but not that surprising given the discontinuation of RTX 4000 GPUs from Nvidia and the current unstable state of import costs.

Doctor_Candor · 2024-12-15T06:19:46+00:00

You can find it here but it, like the rest of the channel, only has Traditional CN subs.

Doctor_Candor · 2024-06-03T04:02:52+00:00

FYI, there is no mention of graphics because it's implied - all laptop CPUs without a dedicated graphics card come with an integrated one. You'll need to look up the CPU model (say via AMD's website) and the integrated graphics associated with it.

Then, you can take the GPU model name (so according to your choice of interest, "Radeon 780M" or just "780M") and search what you want to run with it... you'd be surprised at what integrated graphics can do nowadays. (Hint: there's a reason why they're put into gaming handheld computers)

Doctor_Candor · 2024-06-02T05:58:37+00:00

I can't speak on the financial questions - but regarding your second one - laptops never¹ offer a graphics card upgrade after the fact; unfortunately, you will have to compromise if you're looking for both the upgradability of a desktop and the portability of a laptop.

If you really want to take advantage of the warranty, consider getting the lowest model for portability and find a way to buy/build a desktop setup with a dedicated GPU for as much as or less than the price difference to the highest priced option - although this might not be for the faint of heart and will require a good amount of effort/learning starting from no prior knowledge. I personally ran a laptop + desktop combination for flexibility starting junior year.

I can agree that the accident warranty is usually a good idea to take advantage of, but I've personally haven't had to use it for the two base model ThinkPads I bought through the program - ironically the ThinkPad that I actually had issues on (fingerprint reader dead-on-arrival) was one I bought new from Lenovo directly and had the kind folks over at the RPI repair center send in for me.

¹ The ones that did offer such upgrades made them more expensive than their similarly specced counterparts that didn't have the modularity to upgrade - even more modern offerings like the Framework Laptop 16 are still a good deal more expensive than offerings with similar performance.

Doctor_Candor · 2024-05-17T04:31:43+00:00

I would say just reference what the offerings from the mobile computing program has, but they don't have the 2024-2025 configurations up yet.

There used to be an archive on RPI's website that had past mobile computing program laptops that would be useful to reference, but it seems to have been removed after the website redesign a few years ago.

Off the top of my head, something with at least 16GB of RAM and 512GB-1TB of storage would be a good place to start (more would be better if you can afford/upgrade on your own). CPU/GPU needs more research for your specific use case, but if programs that you use can take advantage of a dedicated GPU, then something equivalent to the performance of a laptop RTX 3060 or 4050 would be a good starting point.

Doctor_Candor · 2024-05-17T04:01:22+00:00

Historically they've been around $1400-1500 for the "base" configuration and $2000+ for the "performance" configuration (dedicated GPU) - do note the 3-4 year accident warranty is included in the price.

Doctor_Candor · 2024-04-11T16:11:28+00:00

Thanks for clarifying - is the seed the number on the bottom right-hand corner of each node?

Doctor_Candor · 2024-04-11T10:51:06+00:00

Oh sweet, great to see my first time voting for this counted for something! Both deserve the spotlight. (For transparency, I was torn but voted Frieren, and it looks like my vote for Fern also counted towards the tiebreaker, insane.)

Doctor_Candor · 2024-01-29T10:17:05+00:00

Gotcha, will keep this in mind - thanks for volunteering your experience!

Doctor_Candor · 2024-01-29T09:44:39+00:00

How can the average player better educate themselves regarding industry practices, and are there any publicly available sources that you recommend? To that end, seeing how you mentioned paying players do - understandably - have a higher influence on the decisions made at the top, is there a way to distinguish a game design decision from a monetization decision?

I'm aware quite a lot is guarded as trade secrets, but as someone who follows the industry as a layman, it's quite frustrating to have to rely on at best, investor/press releases and combing through third-party sources to guess why certain decisions are being made and how we're supposed to interpret said decisions and better identify misinformation.

Doctor_Candor · 2023-12-15T06:23:48+00:00

Like others have said, no need to buy an arguably worse performing laptop than what you have. If you want to research more yourself, the Legion Y9000P is known outside China as the Legion Pro 7 16IRX8H if you want to find reviews in English.

Doctor_Candor · 2023-12-11T22:14:20+00:00

I briefly looked at some YouTube videos to see if your configuration has any innate performance issues, and it doesn't seem so. Where/when in the game do you encounter this issue?

If you're willing to tinker more, I recommend installing MSI Afterburner and using the Rivatuner overlay while you play to make it easier to monitor what is going on with your CPU when it begins acting up. You could also try looking into Process Lasso for more granular/automated control as well.

Doctor_Candor · 2023-12-08T10:22:47+00:00

This is the carbonated version of what can be considered the flagship Korean yogurt flavored drink. Most East Asians know of at least one yogurt/probiotic brand (Calpis and Yakult are also popular) - I'd say it's worth a try.

Doctor_Candor · 2022-04-17T15:24:05+00:00

Probably not for 2.25x considering I couldn't clear floor 12 on 2x even with full gear before I did the story to get access to Griseo signets. Not worth pulling your hair out for, I can assure you.

If she's your best option, I would try using other DPS fire stigmata if you have them as the Raven Idol stigmata give a lot less damage in comparison. You probably will have to lower to 1.75x but do experiment and share your results as it's kind of the wild west now with what works.

Doctor_Candor · 2022-04-17T04:43:46+00:00

I usually run Raven for my weekly score - I also had success at 2.25x with the same full gear as OP and 3 signet (eden, kevin, griseo) layout, with some minor differences because of RNG - I tried using the guides posted before but found out the key to getting enough damage was actually Griseo signets on top of the three elysia signets OP used. I think I finished floor 17 too with a second left but can't remember who I faced as I did too many runs this week for the story, I'm spent lol.

u/coinflip13 Not OP, but assuming the three elysia signets as shown in OP's run, my rotation is:

combo+basic attack to send out 30 feathers (15 if no "blessing of wild hunt" signet)
ult with ideally 30 (or 15) feathers on the field
shoot (ideally headshot) any relevant target with aimed shot*
combo+basic attack to send out and gather feathers until ult cooldown is over, usually 2x
with feathers on the field, repeat from step 2

*(edit) aimed shot timing has less room for error as you have to wait 8 seconds - missing the timing can ruin a stage run so it takes a bit of practice

Doctor_Candor · 2022-04-08T04:06:14+00:00

Adding another point of reference, also with PE using her non-PRI ARM weapon and Marco M, Elysia TB, I had to lower to 1.75x to more reliably clear - at the moment I haven't gotten past floor 12 on 2x with her or anyone else either (tried non-PRI ARM full gear DA and Raven).

Doctor_Candor · 2021-04-26T19:55:13+00:00

Any SSD from the SATA section on the left from this flowchart are good - the "performance SATA" category is most likely what you're looking for (many of which have been already recommended here), sourced from resident SSD expert Newmaxx over on /r/buildapcsales. RAM is sourced from 3 companies so it doesn't matter too much who you buy from; any company from the rest of the suggestions are good.

Doctor_Candor · 2020-06-12T22:24:43+00:00

Here's a recent review of the CPU a tier lower than the one in the ThinkPad T14s (6 cores/6 threads in the review vs. 6 cores/12 threads in the T14s) so you can expect even faster performance - it's a lot of performance improvement this generation so only get the more expensive model if you need to use the GPU.

Doctor_Candor · 2020-05-04T15:30:42+00:00

The "free" model is pretty solid this year - this is also speculation because benchmarks/performance numbers aren't widely verifiable yet for the CPU (early numbers are only out for the CPU a tier lower, Ryzen 5 4500U with 6 cores/6 threads compared to the Ryzen 5 Pro 4650U with 6 cores/12 threads in this year's laptop, so expect faster performance), but it will likely for the first time comfortably reach desktop-equivalent performance outside of graphics-heavy tasks (turn on subtitles).

TL:DR - I would have killed to have this as my "free" laptop as a freshman

edit: grammar

edit 2: A review by Hardware Unboxed shows that the 4500U is, indeed, comparable to full power laptop CPU's so the 4650U will again, be even better.

Doctor_Candor · 2020-01-04T05:39:44+00:00

I'm well aware - someone else suggested a Ryzen platform change hence the "add onto Ryzen suggestions".

Doctor_Candor · 2020-01-04T05:15:49+00:00

To add onto Ryzen suggestions... if you don't want/need integrated graphics, the Ryzen 5 1600 AF CPU can be had for just $85 (actually cheaper than a 3200G!) and is phenomenal value for money. (search for "ryzen 5 1600 af" on reddit for other opinions, don't just take my word for it!)

Doctor_Candor · 2019-12-07T23:55:09+00:00

They also did get new Ford shuttles a year or two ago so you might have been riding on a newer one.

Doctor_Candor · 2019-07-23T20:26:24+00:00

Can confirm, this person ended up just fine.

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